


If You Fall (I Will Catch You)

by helsinkibaby



Series: Right Beside Me Around Every Turn [3]
Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Het Relationship, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 21:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12944718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: When Sam's life hangs in the balance, Chris tries not to fall apart.





	If You Fall (I Will Catch You)

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the events of "Fifty Two Hours Straight"
> 
> Prompt : https://comment-fic.livejournal.com/785063.html?thread=101619623#t101619623  
> Any, any, Time after Time (Cyndi Lauper)

With Geoff and Emma stranded in the middle of nowhere on the plane with their pilot at death’s door, the base is predictably in uproar as everyone faces in for a long night. Chris is going between the radio and the phone lines, talking to Geoff and Emma on one hand, arranging supplies and pilots and everything else on the other. Zoe is doing what she can to help, Violet is wittering around being Violet and Chris suddenly feels like she’s going to scream. 

Except she knows she can’t so she takes herself to her office for a minute, closes the door behind her and sits down at her desk. With her head in her hands she takes several deep breaths and she almost bursts into tears when she hears the door open. 

Then it shuts just as quickly and she catches a familiar scent and she almost bursts into tears for an entirely different reason. 

She lifts her head and looks into Tom’s eyes. They are filled with concern for her, while his brow is furrowed in a deep frown. “I don’t need to ask how you are,” he says and she shakes her head as she stands, stepping into the welcoming and comforting circle of his arms. 

He wraps one arm around her shoulders, his hand reaching up to play with her hair. His other hand splays across her back, warm through the material of her blouse, making her shiver. Her hands go around his waist, make fists in the back of his shirt and she’s gripping so tightly she’s sure her knuckles are white, is almost afraid she’s going to rip the shirt. Not that it would be the first time for that, she thinks, but it would be the first time like this. The thought almost brings a giggle to her lips but she forces it back, recognising it for what it is, a harbinger of hysteria, much like her impulse to scream of moments earlier. 

“Not good,” she murmurs into his shirt, answering the question he hadn’t really asked. 

His hand moves across her hair, sweeping gestures meant to soothe. “You’re doing everything you can,” he reminds her. “Everyone is.” 

“I know that.” She straightens up, looks into his eyes, knowing he doesn’t understand, can’t understand. “I’m just afraid it won’t be enough.” 

“Chris-”

She doesn’t let him finish, moves away from him to pace the tiny office as best she can. “All I keep thinking is I’ve been here before... Geoff’s voice on the radio, my friend, the pilot, with his life hanging in the balance...” She shudders as she wraps her arms around herself because she can remember it so clearly, in a way she doesn’t often let herself, Geoff’s voice coming over the radio, right after those awful seconds of silence between her speaking and his reply, those few moments where she’d known what he was going to say, praying she was wrong. 

“We lost the battle, Chris. We lost Dave.” 

She pushes the memory out of her head, clenches her fists. “I can’t lose another friend, Tom.” He comes to stand behind her, his hands landing on her shoulders and squeezing gently. “I just can’t.”

For a moment, she thinks he’s going to offer her hope, make promises that he can’t possibly keep. Instead he says, “I miss him too.” Stepping closer to her, his chest against her back, she feels him huff out a laugh. “You know, the last time we ever spoke was the morning I left? He told me he had a good mind to knock my lights out for breaking your heart... called me a prize prat too.” 

She can hear a smile in his voice, can practically hear too Gibbo’s voice saying those words. “Well, he wasn’t wrong,” she points out and he chuckles at that.

“No, he wasn’t.” His voice is soft, tender as he settles his chin on the top of her head. His arms encircle her waist and she leans back against him, lets him support her weight. “I don’t suppose he’d ever tire of pointing that out to me either.” 

They both know it for truth and Chris finds herself smiling when only minutes ago it had seemed like the last thing she’d ever do. “Definitely not.” She rests her hands over his, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Thank you.” 

She feels his lips brush the top of her head. “I didn’t do anything.” 

She turns in his arms, her head falling to his chest, right over his heart. The steady beat, the same one that’s lulled her to sleep on countless nights, gives the same comfort it always does, as does the sensation of being wrapped up in his arms. “Apart from stopping me falling apart, you mean?” 

There’s a beat of silence and then he’s pulling back so that he can look down at her. She moves so that she can look back at him, his hand going to cup her cheek, thumb sweeping up and down. She’s not sure whether it’s that, or the look in his eyes, that makes her shiver. “I’ll catch you every time,” he promises. “You know that, right?” 

And suddenly, the tears are back in her eyes but this time, it’s all right because they’re the good kind. They’re the kind that come along with the swell of emotion that rises in her throat, a heady mixture of joy and love and completion that she knows can be found all too rarely. 

So she nods, stands on her tiptoes and kisses him. “I do.”


End file.
